During our last day in Okinawa, we got up early and drove north to Ocean Park all the way north on the island, to spend the day before driving all the way back down to the airport.

The aquarium is 3rd biggest one in the world (#2 is Dubai and #1 is Atlanta), and the only one with 3 whale sharks, and the Expo Park it's in has plenty of other things to see.

Since we had left early, we entered the aquarium right after 08:30 on a monday morning when it opened, so thankfully we avoided the crazy crowds that can be there.

The outside flower statues were fantastic:

There are many displays on fish obviously, but the main attraction is the huge whale shark tank (below):

giant lobsters, too much to eat for a single person on these :)

The Aquarium is of course known for its 3 whale sharks (which are actually sharks, not whales). It's the only place in the world where you can see 3 of them, especially of that size. They may actually have the biggest habitat of any aquarium:

The rest of the aquarium was also good:

that's the shark you don't want to see

very deep sea

The rest of the Ocean Expo Park was good, although the dolphin show was maybe not Sea World level :)

flying dolphins :)

Manatees

Prostetic tail for an injured dolphin

After the aquarium (which is actually worth 3-4H if you include some of the movies they show), we went to see the rest of the expo park, which had an okinawa village recreation and a very nice botanical garden:

And after over 6H in the park, it was time to head back. We could have spent a bit more, but we got a good overview. Maybe we'll be back one day.